Summary: Social Cognitive Theory

Albert Bandura's research on observation, social learning, and aggressive behavior started the Social Cognitive Theory back to the late 1950's. This theory about behavior acquisition started in behaviorism, which is the belief that behavior is a result of one's environment, consequences, rewards, and punishments (1). Bandura's research on the impact of modeling on social behavior in 1961 is now known as the famous Bobo doll experiment. This experiment is based off of observational learning as the foundation, that continued into personal factors which contributed to behavior (1). The Social Cognitive Theory is composed of three main aspects. The environmental, behavioral, and personal factors are the basis of this theory. Without one factor, you cannot have the others. They all influence each other equally. Among these three factors lie key constructs, such as self-efficacy, observational learning, behavioral capability, expectations, expectancies, locus of control, reinforcement, emotional arousal, and self-regulation. Within these key constructs, we found self-efficacy to be the most determining factor when applied to behavioral interventions. This is because self-efficacy models the belief that even when people have the skills and knowledge to accomplish a task, it is their belief in their ability to use them that enables people to actually perform the task. People will only do what they believe they can do (1), which should always be remembered when applying this theory to behavioral health interventions.